Supporters rally around biker hurt in NYC dustup

A pack of motorcyclists follow and harass an SUV driving through Manhattan Sunday before smashing in the SUV's window.
VPC

New York City police are questioning a second person in connection with Sunday's dustup.

A pack of motorcyclists approach an SUV in Manhattan on Sept. 29 before smashing in the window.(Photo: VPC)

Story Highlights

Video posted to YouTube helped spread word about dustup in NYC

SUV driver was treated for lacerations, released from hospital

Family, social media say injured motorcyclist will never walk again

NEW YORK - A motorcyclist injured in a now widely publicized Sunday altercation between 20 to 30 bikers and an SUV driver may not walk again, according to published reports and a Facebook page set up to support him.

Meantime, New York City police are questioning a second person in relation to the dustup on Manhattan's West Side Highway between the motorcyclists and the driver of a Range Rover.

Details of the altercation spread quickly after a video of the incident was posted on YouTube and went viral. A motorcyclist remained hospitalized Tuesday and his family said he will never walk again. The driver of the SUV, father and husband Alexian Lien, was treated for knife lacerations to his back and face, police said.

Biker Christopher Cruz, 28, was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, reckless driving, endangering the welfare of a child and menacing.

The person who was being questioned Tuesday night is a 42-year-old male, police said.

Emotions ran hot over the incident on social media, as friends and family of injured motorcyclist Jeremiah Mieses expressed anger on a new Facebook page titled "Justice for Jay Meezee," which is a nickname for Mieses, 26, of Lawrence, Mass.

Mieses' wife, Dayana Mejia, told ABC News that her husband will never walk again and the same statement was made on the "Justice for Jay Meezee" Facebook page. The New York Post reported his spine was crushed.

The Facebook page said Mieses was trying to tend to another injured motorcyclist when he was hit. A woman identifying herself as an aunt of the motorcyclist created a GoFundMe.com crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for Mieses' medical expenses.

The Facebook page and crowdfunding page drew lots of expressions of good wishes for Mieses and anger toward the SUV driver. Of Mieses, the Facebook page said, "He got off his bike to help someone and now this is the condition he is in." The page described Mieses as a kind family man.

"He was on the ground attending to an injured person and was run over like an animal!!!!" the page read.

Graphic photos of Mieses in the hospital, face bruised, tubes attached to him, also covered the page.

But there were sentiments expressed in the other direction too on that Facebook page, on another expressing sympathies for the SUV driver and even on the crowdfunding page.

One person who donated $5 toward Mieses' medical expenses wrote. "I don't feel bad for you one bit" and "Enjoy your hospital stay you non walking excuse of a man."